A group of Canadians are learning a little bit about life in eastern North Carolina, thanks to a cultural exchange program.

On Saturday, Colonial Carolina Friendship Force welcomed 18 Canadians visiting the area for a week, according to 18-year member Marilyn Bram.

The program is an international initiative introduced in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter as an exchange program to build relationships between people from different states, countries and parts of the globe. The idea behind the program is that, through personal encounters, strangers become friends, which in turn promotes peace between people of different cultures, according to friendshipforce.org. The headquarters in Atlanta coordinates the trips, Bram said.

According to Bram, Margaret Hackney and other community members started the Washington chapter 20 years or more ago.

Bill Cates, a 15-year member of the organization, said the visitors will be guests of Washington’s Friendship Force members, who have also coordinated a week’s worth of activities, providing a look into the culture and history of the area.

Among the places the group will visit next week include the Wright Memorial in Kitty Hawk, Bodie Lighthouse, Tryon Palace in New Bern, Somerset, Historic Bath, the N.C. Estuarium, Aurora and the Aurora Fossil Museum, Potash Corp-Aurora and tours of Washington. Thursday, visitors and Friendship Force members will meet with Washington Mayor Mac Hodges, for an official welcome to Washington.

The local chapter will also be hosting a welcoming party for the visitors and a low-country boil in Bath will serve as a way to get to know each other and show them a bit of Beaufort County hospitality. Members of the group will also be bringing canoes for the visitors to have a chance to get out on the waters of the Pamlico River, according to Cates.

“The ultimate goal, is you have a Friendship Force in a community and people choose to come to another community like Washington,” Bram said. “It is our job to take care of their activities, provide homes for them to stay in and then the transportation to the activities.”

Bram, who has been to several places through Friendship Force, such as New Mexico and Brazil, said the program is a good way to travel inexpensively and make personal connections with the people of the area.

“It’s just a wonderful organization, and it’s truly an ambassadorship where you can not only gain friends from other places, but also you open up the world to others,” Bram said. “And it’s much less expensive. It’s a win-win. You can gain new friends, new opportunities to see other countries and it’s most affordable.”

Cates said he and his wife, Brenda, joined the program because of the appeal of travel. Since, they have been to places such as Mexico, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands.

“We like to travel and see other places,” Bill Cates said. “Friendship Force is a very economical way to do that. It’s a cultural exchange. You go and stay with other people, and you find out how they live and you do what they do for a week or two.”

For more information, visit friendshipforce.org.